Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Toughest Games for Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball from the 2025 Big 12 Men's Basketball Release

Starting point is 00:00:00 On this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks, Big 12 basketball schedule is out. Top five toughest games at home and on the road for KU basketball. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. This is Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making LOJ your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Thank you to every dayers catching each and every episode and catching bonus episodes like this one is today. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's bonus episode, the Big 12 schedule for basketball is officially out. We're going to be discussing the top games at home, on the road, and the most intriguing matchups for KU as part of Big 12 play for the Jayhawks. Used to not really be able to do this because, you know, it was just like,

Starting point is 00:00:59 oh, you're playing everybody home and away. And though that is a better structure for determining a conference champion, this at least makes the schedule at least a little bit more fun because it's like, are you playing this team twice? everybody home and away. And though that is a better structure for determining a conference champion, this at least makes the schedule at least a little bit more fun because it's like, are you playing this team twice? Are you playing them home? Are you playing them on the road? When is it happening? All that sort of stuff.

Starting point is 00:01:13 So we're going to get into that on this bonus episode of the show, which we're going to rank the toughest games at home, the toughest games on the road, and the most interesting. So let's get right into it. Let's start with the five toughest home games for KU in the Big 12. Number five on the schedule is for the home games. Let's start with the five toughest home games. The Kansas State game on January 18th.

Starting point is 00:01:36 That is a game against K-State where it is a rivalry game. It is a game where, you know, you have done well at home against K-State, but still whenever you're playing a rival team, they're ranked in the top 30 in the preseason on Bart Torvik at 29th. It is tough to know what we're going to get from K-State this year. They do have some talented transfers coming in, but there's also a chance it doesn't mesh. They also brought in a lot of transfer talent from schools

Starting point is 00:02:03 that were in losing situations so like there's a chance k-state's not as good as 29th and then this game would drop off this but uh rivalry game at home jerome tang has done a good job i would say so far early in his time in manhattan against bill self and coleman hawkins can be a matchup problem for hunter dickinson that's been the case when he was at illinois and hunter was at michigan and then in the exhibition last year, though, I think Coleman Hawkins might play the four. And in which case, that's kind of a very different matchup.

Starting point is 00:02:31 But still, when I look at teams who can come in now and field house and score a win, you have to be tough. You have to be mentally tough. And you have to have some guards who can get tough buckets. I think Doug McDaniel can do that for them. Our number four toughest home game for KU is the Texas Tech game on March 1st. Again, these are just big 12 games. Texas Tech is ranked 20th on Bart Torvik coming into the year.

Starting point is 00:02:52 We saw Darian Williams just not be able to miss and just do everything well against Kansas down in Lubbock. He's back this year. Devin Cambridge back this year. Chance McMillan, Kerwin Walton are back on this year's team. They did lose Pop Isaacs, but they brought in Elijah Hawkins. And that's a name that you might be familiar with. I think he was at Minnesota last year, but the year before that, he was at that Howard team that

Starting point is 00:03:13 played KU in the first round of the NCAA tournament and actually had a pretty good game, scored a decent amount of points, good three-point shooter for them. JT Toppin, for me, was one of the best players of anybody that went in the transfer portal we did a deep dive on him this past summer and I think he's going to be great for Texas Tech I really like this tech team I like their coach I think if you're giving me if they're 20th right now in the preseason on Bart Torvik and I'm buying stock to you know are they going to finish better worse than that I would have them finishing better than that I'm high on tech so I think that'll be a tough game at home that's number four pretty though. That is only number four because of how loaded the

Starting point is 00:03:48 big 12 is. Number three on this list of home games is Arizona on March 8th. You know, you can make a case for any of these top three, I think being number one. Arizona right now is 10th on Bart Torvik. So maybe not as high as the other two we're going to get to in the top two. But I will say, even though, and the reason for that is that they lost a lot, right? Like Umar Balo transfers away to Indiana. You lose Killen Boswell as a transfer to Illinois. You lose Keyshawn Johnson to the NBA. So they lost a good amount from last year's team.

Starting point is 00:04:21 But Tommy Lloyd has been an awesome coach for Arizona, especially if we look at the regular season, they've been a regular season juggernaut under Tommy Lloyd. So again, like this is one where it's like, if I'm buying stocks, I'm going to assume Arizona is going to actually finish better than 10th. But I mean,

Starting point is 00:04:35 the guards, they do bring back a good amount. Caleb love, Jaden Bradley, KJ Lewis. And by the way, Jaden Bradley, one of my favorite players in college basketball.

Starting point is 00:04:43 So I really like what they have there. They do have some newcomer forwards. They have some big men stepping into bigger roles where it's like, what are you going to get from them? But I think are going to provide well because you look at what Tommy Lloyd has done at the big position and what he was doing when he was at Gonzaga. I think they're going to be able to fill that up. So that's a tough one. Senior day going to be a tough game for KU to continue their senior day streak against Arizona. Number two is Iowa State on February 3rd.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Iowa State's ranked third on Bart Torvik right now for coming into the season. Tameen Lipsy, Keyshawn Gilbert, Keyshawn Jones, all those guys, those good guards are back. And Momchilovich is back along the wing. They do have new bigs down low and some new faces as far as the depth goes, but they brought in some good transfers that I think are going to fill in nicely. They've played KU really close the last couple of times. They've been in Allen Fieldhouse last year. It was unfortunate because KU had to play in Ames, but they didn't get a return trip to try to win the game, although no guarantee how that would have gone. But in 2023, Kansas had to win

Starting point is 00:05:42 by two, 62-60. 2022, Kansas had to win by one, 62-61 on the game winner by DeJuan Harris. So that's certainly going to be a tough, rugged one for KU. And the number one is against Houston on January 25th at home. They are number one on Bart Torvik coming into the year. That's even after the loss of Jamal Shedd, who is going to be a huge loss for them. But they return LJ Cryer, Emmanuel Sharp. It's four of the five starters are back from them. I'm a big J. Juan Roberts guy. He's also one of my favorite players to watch in

Starting point is 00:06:10 the country. They have basically like a ton of their bench pieces that are coming back into bigger roles, so they're not going to be spooked. I mean, you look at the game last year, even though Kansas blew them out, that was not a matter of like, oh, Houston just doesn't know what to do playing in Allen Fieldhouse. It was just KU. That was KU's best game of the season, right? That was KU's A-plus game, and they shot the lights out. They passed it so well.

Starting point is 00:06:33 They handled Houston super well. But I don't think it was a matter of just like Houston just couldn't handle the moment in Allen Fieldhouse. So that'll be the number one on that schedule. Let's get into the top five toughest road games for KU and then the most intriguing on Locked on Jayhawks. Our bonus episode today brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game,

Starting point is 00:06:56 you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. And you can get in on the college football action this weekend. Don't forget to check out our college football preview. And we gave a little pick a props from FanDuel for some of the game action. You got Chiefs game coming up this weekend and you can bet on KU basketball to win the national championship at 10 to one a future on FanDuel. You get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed.

Starting point is 00:07:21 When you place your first $5 bet, that's FanDuel.com, the official Sportsbook partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. On to our top five toughest road games for KU in the Big 12 schedule that was released. I'm going to give you an honorable mention real quick. The Cincinnati game, January 11th, that's one of your first conference games.

Starting point is 00:07:41 They're ranked 28th on Bart Torvik. I think Cincinnati is going to be a tournament team this year. I think they're going to be a really tough team, especially on the road. They bring back Simus Lukosius, who, oh, look at that. He just hit another three against KU in the Big 12 tournament game. So did Day Day Thomas. And then they also bring back Skillings, Jizzle James, Bendago. They're good shot blocking big men.

Starting point is 00:08:00 They added Dylan Mitchell in the transfer portal from Texas. So not a great shooting wing, but a good defender, good rebounder, a good athlete. He fits in perfectly with what they want to do. I think Cincinnati is going to be scrappy, going to be a really good team. So that'll be a tough game. Did not make the list. Number five, though, was at K-State on February 8th.

Starting point is 00:08:16 We talked about some of this, that K-State, that's a rivalry game. You've lost your last two in Manhattan. And so Jerome Tang has had the magic elixir there in those games. Obviously, you don't have to worry about Tyler Perry this year hitting some tough shots against you, but Doug McDaniel can do a little bit of that. So that is number five on this list. Number four on this list, I kind of did a slashy.

Starting point is 00:08:40 On its own as an individual game, I don't know that either one would be on this top five. I'd probably just slide Cincinnati up there. But as a collective, I'm calling it the mountain road trip. So you play at Utah and at BYU back-to-back games. I don't know if they'll just stay out there. Probably wouldn't, or would be a good thing for KU. Uh, those are February 15th and February 18th.

Starting point is 00:08:59 Utah's only in the seventies on Bart Torvik. They do have a solid seven footer,, 6'6 wing Gabe Medceri. He's really good. BYU's ranked 27th. They did lose a good amount of players. Obviously, Mark Pope is gone. Are they going to play the same way with their new coach who comes from kind of NBA blood or NBA coaching circles, I guess I should say.

Starting point is 00:09:21 But they're still going to have a good amount of shooters, like Traven Nell's back. The bowling ball undersized big man Traore's back, like Daylon Hall is back. It's the combination of those two games that I think, specifically BYU, that's going to be a tough place to play, and also BYU stylistically is a tough matchup. But you look at the Pac-12 teams who had to make that,

Starting point is 00:09:40 for them it was road trips to, they would have a duo of at Colorado and at Utah or at Utah than at Colorado very I mean it was very difficult for teams to go 2-0 in those trips when they were back to back because the the altitude doesn't just get to you in one of the games but then the rest and recovery affects you with the altitude you're not used to it you have the games in between that that was the case for a lot of Pac-12 teams. They would get upset. They would get picked off in one of those games when you had to have that happen. So I view that as being a very dangerous moment where Kansas could just lose one of the two. Number three, though, is the Baylor game on the road in Waco.

Starting point is 00:10:15 Kind of like Iowa State last year. You played at Iowa State. You didn't get them back at home. That's the case with Baylor this year. You don't get them back at home. So it'll be in Waco on February 1st. Probably going to be a really good offense again from Baylor. That's what they've had.

Starting point is 00:10:26 They haven't had the great defense in recent years, and I feel like probably trending toward that because, again, it's going to be guard heavy. A lot of guys who can make tough shots. Vijay Edgecombe, freshman coming in, he's going to be a dude as a freshman. And then Jeremy Roach they added from Duke. Langston Love we know can shoot it. Jaden Nunn is a good guard.

Starting point is 00:10:42 So they got some flamethrowers on the outside. And then Norchado Mir, the transfer from Miami, kind of the perfect small ball five. Hunter should be able to eat on the offensive side of the ball, but that'll be a tough matchup for KU. Number two, toughest game on the road for KU at Iowa State, January 15th. It's a tough place to play, and it's a really good opponent. I don't really need to get much more into that. And number one toughest game on the road is at Houston on February 3rd. You could argue the Iowa State one because, I don't really need to get much more into that. And number one toughest game on the road is at Houston on February 3rd.

Starting point is 00:11:06 You could argue the Iowa State one because, I don't know, you could argue Iowa State may be a tougher place to play in general than at Houston, but both are going to be sellouts. And we saw last year, and both are going to be really good teams, so it's splitting hairs. But Houston beat you 76-46 at home last year. I think that kind of speaks for itself. Maybe that gives KU more motivation. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:11:25 Okay, let's get to our five most interesting games for KU and why on this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Bonus episode brought to you by PrizePix, America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. PrizePix is the only real money daily fantasy platform with an injury insurance policy

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Starting point is 00:12:36 It's guaranteed. PrizePix, run your game. Finishing things up on this bonus episode of the show with KU Basketball's big 12 schedule now out so those were our five toughest home and road games what about the five most interesting number five we're going with KU opening big 12 play on New Year's Day against West Virginia so this is a game that I mean a it kicks off big 12 play that's exciting it's New Year's Day that's exciting I think the last time KU played on New Year's Day was that crazy comeback against Oklahoma State, and it would have been 2022 for

Starting point is 00:13:09 the 22-23 season. And West Virginia, I think, will be a much better team this year. You got a new coach in there with DeVries. He brought in a lot of transfers coming over to the program, including his son, who is an NBA player probably. So that'll be a fun one, I think, to open things up. Number four is the KU-K-State matchups just in general. You have the rivalry aspect, KU trying to win at K-State for the first time since Jerome Tang has been there. That'll certainly be interesting. And then you add to it that Coleman Hawkins is now there and him and Hunter Dickinson seem to maybe have some bad blood going back to the Michigan-Illinois days. Number three, KU only getting Baylor on the road. That makes it, I guess, more important to try to steal that one on the road

Starting point is 00:13:47 because if they're in the Big 12 title race and if you're in the Big 12 title race and that's your only try to get them, right, it becomes a little bit more important there for what you possibly do. That certainly surprised me that you didn't get a home-and-home out of it. I think there are some Baylor people that think KU Baylor is like a rivalry. It's not. But obviously when you're talking about what has been the other best program in the Big 12 over the last decade, it would be Baylor, right?

Starting point is 00:14:14 I mean, Houston's really good, but they just joined the league. And Arizona's really good, but they just joined the league. And so that would be kind of the case. So certainly a bit of a surprise there, but that makes the game even more important. Number two is home and home with Houston. I mean, Houston's going to be in the running for national title contender. They won the big 12 last season. And so if you want to try to win it back, right, at least win one of the two or go sweep them, right? Get some revenge for losing on the road and no Jamal Shedd. And then the number one most interesting game for me is the KU Arizona

Starting point is 00:14:45 game. March 8th, it's senior night. So you have both of those. It's the regular season finale. So that could determine if you win a share of the Big 12 or win the Big 12 at all or win it outright or whatever. It could have an effect on possible seeding, right? All those sort of things. And then you add to it, it's your first meeting with them since they joined the Big 12. You add to it as well that Arizona is just a very good program. And then you add to it as well that you have Caleb Love, which the last time you played against Caleb Love was the 2022 National Championship game, which is going to be crazy that it'll be 2025. And that was like, what, Caleb Love's second or third year at North Carolina. But that's just how it goes with the COVID year. Quick trivia. Who guarded his final shot?

Starting point is 00:15:27 Three, two, one. The answer is Christian Brown. But bonus answer, if you said KJ Adams, because he wasn't really close on the contest, but he came off his guy to just like try to distract him and jump up in the air. So props to him there and props to you if you got the question right. All right.

Starting point is 00:15:45 That'll do it for this bonus episode of locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere. You get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like, and subscribe to the show. Make sure to check out our KU TCU preview. We'll be back for KU TCU postcast after the game this weekend as well. Thanks for joining us.

Starting point is 00:16:00 See you on another edition of the show.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Toughest Games for Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball from the 2025 Big 12 Men's Basketball Release

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